I went home this month to participate in the yearly community service my high school holds called Squan-A-thon. Its similar to the “thon” that Penn State does. Our school has the members collect a minimum of $300 each to participate then has one night where everyone stays up and on their feet for 12 straight hours, from 8pm to 8am. The night is filled with fun activities and food and we ultimately raised over $40,000 for pediatric cancer.
1) How did your community service work help the community?
We raised $40,000 to go towards fighting pediatric cancer. The money is donated to local families that have children going through chemo. To help these children, ass the [participates go through a 12 hour night on their feet and raise a ton of money each.
2) How did it make you feel to give up your time and energy to others?
It felt great knowing that so many people would give up a night of sleep and sitting down to help out these kids. It is those children that need the most help and are going through so much suffering the least we could do is stay up for a night for them. Raising money was rewarding and seeing the families that received the money was truly heart-warming.
3) How has your community service experience change your thinking, attitudes, and actions towards others, yourself, the community, and community servuce work as a whole?
It has helped me see that not everyone lives perfect lives, and sometimes a great misfortunate happens to even the retest or most innocent people. Children shouldn’t have to go through the sufferings of cancer or chemotherapy and it felt amazing to help out in our own way, make it fun, and raise an extraordinary amount of money for these kids and their families.
